The Buick Excelle, a rebadged Chevrolet Optra, has led a steady life in China. Despite being a seven year old model, it clocked 30k units last month. To run the model, which started life as the Daewoo Lacetti, for the next few years, GM has planned a cosmetic revision for the car.
The spyshots don’t reveal every change but we can expect the lights, grille, bumper and the wheels to go under the knife. CarNewsChina reports that the facelifted Buick Excelle will be shown at the Beijing Motor Show in April.
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The Swift has been a big hit for Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) all over the world. With a load of attitude and flair it has attracted a lot of buyers even in China, where it is about to receive a facelift with key cosmetic changes.
The facelifted Chinese Swift (pictured) gets a radiator grille with a wider opening, a new bumper with wider air intakes and new rounded fog lamps. The sides of the car have been embellished with side skirts to enhance the sporty looks of the car. At the rear, there is a new bumper with a diffuser sort of integrated into it along with mud flaps. This looks of the new vehicle is right in the middle of the existing Swift and the next generation Swift.
Shouldn’t this have been Maruti’s Swift when the car went through a subtle change a couple of year’s back? The refreshed Swift in India only had a different tail lamp and the rest of the car was untouched.
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The Chinese Wagon R is not very far away from what we’re going to get
As India awaits a facelifted Suzuki Wagon R with a BS4 compliant 1.0-liter K-Series engine that promises to be more powerful, more fuel economical and less polluting, China is also spitting distance away from receiving its new Wagon R.
Spied at a dealership, the new Wagon R’s front-end is similar to the Indian version. The Wagon R has a neatly designed “hide and seek” tail gate. The rear view mirrors look like ears. The rear spoiler adds smoothness to the rear-end. The 5-sided stop lamps integrated into the rear bumper doesn’t.
There are no clear shots of the interiors. What we can infer is the new vehicle will get a redesigned steering wheel dressed in beige.
The biggest difference between the Indian and Chinese version is under the hood. Our neighbors love acceleration and speed, so they get a massive 1.4-liter petrol engine that outputs 90hp and 112Nm of torque!
The next generation Chevrolet Aveo was caught testing in China wearing none of that protective clothing. For our new readers, we have already posted a spy shot and artist rendering of the next generation Aveo before.
Product specifications have not leaked past the walls of GM China HQ. An assortment of petrol and diesel engines is a safe bet.
Who knows? After the tie-up between REVA and GM India, there could even be a electric version of this vehicle. It’s all a possibility.
No one from the Indian wing of GM have spoken of the next generation Aveo and going by the silence, this car is not coming to India in the near future. We’ve already begun our investigation, so expect something on the Aveo soon here on IAB.
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On an unknown stretch of road in our neighboring country China, a lensman captured the upcoming Suzuki Kizashi clocking valuable test miles.
The Kizashi, according to magazines in India, will arrive here next year contradicting Maruti Suzuki’s earlier claims of taking appropriate decisions on the same only in 2011.
The new mid-size sedan is pitched at the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord league, which these days is topped by the Skoda Superb in India.
The Kizashi is a non-fuss D-Segment car that’s got the muscle, skin and detail of a luxury sedan. Ashley (China Car Times’ editor) claims it will be launched in their country with a 2.4-liter liter 4-cylinder engine. We expect the same motor in our country, though a smaller 2.0-liter is also in the works, which would be more suitable for our mileage-conscious country.
Chinese car company Wuling, which is partially operated by GM, is rumored these days to be busy working on a car that will cost approximately $4,000. GM is likely to reserve this car for developing countries like India, South America, Brazil and China.
Wuling is experienced with manufacturing low cost vehicles. At present, it manufactures low cost pickup trucks and vans for China. Mostly, GM would develop a smaller capacity engine to suit this car’s profile. The interiors could be basic but vital family chromosomes like the split grille and large headlamps will remain.
The rendering above uses bits from the Smart, next generation Spark and the Nano. We expect the car to come with four doors and a platform that is fit for all kinds of small vehicles.
Chevrolet Agile Sedan spied in China-
The Agile stemmed in Brazil and quietly is making in roads in Asia. The sedan version of the Agile (probably the Aveo U-VA in the future) once again was caught testing in Chinese streets. When it was spied the first time, we even went to the extent of making Chevrolet Agile sedan rendering.
While we don’t know if these are the U-VA and Aveo replacements, the low-cost platform nonetheless is being put to good use. This car will be sold as the next generation Chevrolet Sail in China.
Codenamed Sail NB NGS, NB stands for notchback and NGS for New Global Car, it is a cheaper version of the Aveo sedan.
Interesting, the Spark is stationed below the existing Aveo in India. Now that the next generation Spark is ready, we assume it will be priced around the Aveo’s range (4.5 lakh and upward).
If GM India brings the Agile in, where would they position it? I don’t think positioning it around the Jazz-i20 range would bring them any fortunes (at least not on the long run) since the Agile looks very plain and no-frills to me.
I have a gut feeling the Aveo and U-VA will be taken out and the Agile and Agile sedan will take up the task.
Chevrolet Agile official teasers -
Meanwhile in Argentina, General Motors has release two images of the Chevrolet Agile with full camouflage. Twenty models were used for several crash tests and over 150 prototypes clocked a million miles to determine reliability, the press release read.
Doesn’t this car look exactly the same as the face-lifted Chevrolet Aveo sedan we brought you earlier? It’s a no-frills version, and get this, the Chevrolet Sail would come to India in the future.
For GM, things have turned out to be more exciting for its overseas operations after it filed for bankruptcy in its home country. Especially emerging markets, as GM ordered them all to develop their future models and bring in the cash. More importantly, GM does not want to develop cars that are region specific, but can be sold all over the world.
